'Creative Nations' Convening in Lisbon during Web Summit 2019
7 Nov, Lisbon. The Global Brain convened a “Roundtable Discussion” to kickstart the Creative Nations initiative, in partnership with United Nations Global Compact, which was attended by two additional UN entities (UN Development Programme, UN Technology Innovation Labs) and roughly thirty participants from different Brands and Creative Communications Industry firms including Accenture Interactive, SAP, RG/A, Wolf Olins, Absolut, Lamborghini, The Lion’s Share Fund, among others.
Discussions at the Roundtable in Lisbon were positive and productive, affirming The Global Brain and UN Global Compact’s proposed vision of how the Creative Nations could be a mechanism for the creative community to raise awareness of and support action the SDGs. The conversation successfully advanced the Creative Nations initiative by obtaining input and interest of attendees, with the aim of a launch in early 2020.
In sum, participants affirmed a robust ‘rationale’ and urgent need for such an initiative and helped flesh out five components which could be built under Creative Nations: Industry Principles; Convenings; Education; Online Platform; Impact Reporting and Campaign Initiatives.
During the first round of discussions, Participants stressed the positive trends and high performance of brands-with-purpose, given the pressing demand for sustainable choices by consumers and the public, especially youth and thus affirming the business-case for SDG action that is critical to CEOs and shareholders. As for ‘how’ to undertake collaboration under the Creative Nations initiative and what superpowers the creative community could offer, participants stressed that efforts could emphasize urgency yet remain optimistic and offer solutions; be bold, beautiful and yet simplify SDG topics so they are relatable; be inclusive especially with youth, globally, bringing them into conversations and campaigns; and link-to our partners with existing initiatives and groups, such as Business Roundtables, so to effectively extend the reach and thus impact of Creative Nations and its Members. An important highlight was the fact that we are facing our own “survival as a business” besides the moral imperative and responsibility we have to serve our community and planet.